rwtomkins Posted December 7, 2004 Report Posted December 7, 2004 Picked the car up from the second annual service yesterday and guess what, when I came to give it the once-over before driving it away, they'd crushed the sills on both sides. It's thanks to this site I had the presence of mind to look for the damage - even though it was after dark - before driving the vehicle away. The mechanic - sorry, technician - just wanted to bang them back into shape with a brummy spanner but I said no way, I want this in the body shop for a professional repair and a written guarantee that the work will be good for at least as long as the original bodywork guarantee. They manager agreed without hesitation. It strikes me that the reason why services are so expensive is that only half the money goes on the work actually done, the other half pays for rectifying the damage they do. Grrr. And I haven't even checked the oil level yet! Quote
seatkid Posted December 7, 2004 Report Posted December 7, 2004 Strange how an Annual inspection service includes a thorough and detailed inspection to look for underbody damage and damage to the protective coating underneath.. ;) ;) :o NO IT DOESNT, it includes the damage at no extra charge. Isn't it about these dealers were made to walk the plank? :o This kind of damage should require several hundred pounds compensation..... May I point out that my Golf failed its MOT due to corrosion around a (dealer) bent (and straightened) sill. Its serious damage mate..... And because its happened twice now on my Alhambras, MY CARS WILL NEVER GO TO A DEALER AGAIN... Quote
GalMan Posted December 8, 2004 Report Posted December 8, 2004 My Gal is soon going to a main dealer for it's 30,000 mile service and reading this comment about sills I was wondering if anyone could post a photo of what the damage looks like, or is it that obvious you couldn't fail to miss it.This is something else that I've got to add to my list to check before driving away, talk about lack of trust. Galman. Quote
Guest EVSS Posted December 8, 2004 Report Posted December 8, 2004 we too have" crushed sill syndrome" as per tyre centre. realistically if these companies want our work they should train there monkeys better grr. Quote
rwtomkins Posted December 8, 2004 Author Report Posted December 8, 2004 GalMan: there was a thread on this two or three months back in which IIRC seatkid and/or others gave a detailed description of what happens. In my case they completely bent in the metal flange that sticks vertically downwards from the bottom of the sills, fore and aft. It was immediately visible from a crouching position. I would see the service manager when you take it in, say you are a member of an on-line forum that says this is a notorious problem with Galaxys and asking for his assurance that it won't happen to you, and if it does, that he'll accept full responsibility for the repairs. Probably won't work but... Quote
GalMan Posted December 9, 2004 Report Posted December 9, 2004 Cheers for the advice. Just checked the sills and they appear fine at the moment, it will be serviced at the same garage as did it before so hopefully it will be OK, but I'm still going to mention it. Quote
rwtomkins Posted December 10, 2004 Author Report Posted December 10, 2004 Just picked up the Gal on its return from the bodyshop and they seem to have done a very good job on it. And guess what? THEY DIDN'T OVERFILL THE OIL. They even returned the container of SD 5W40 I supplied with about half a litre left in it. Is this a first? Am feeling pathetically grateful. Quote
Guest Andy Posted January 14, 2005 Report Posted January 14, 2005 are all the bent sills BENT at the correct jacking point ive had mine up n down loads of times and others and have never had a problem i use rubber pads on my ramps,is this a weak spot or has it just been lifted on the wrong place,as we know there are indicators on the sills indicating the correct jacking point... :( :( :rolleyes: :rolleyes: Quote
seatkid Posted January 14, 2005 Report Posted January 14, 2005 as we know there are indicators on the sills indicating the correct jacking point... These are for the car jack which is designed to sit over the sill lip. For a garage jack which has a lifting Pad, the sill should never be used. They should be positioned under the designated floor pan points (its on the TIS CD). The problem with garage jacks is that the pad needs to be adjusted up (or packed) such that the lifting arm clears the sill. Guess what happens if they don't..... Quote
Guest Andy Posted January 14, 2005 Report Posted January 14, 2005 well i dunno then all i can say is then with 100's of lifts in the exact same position at the indicated point i have never yet caused any damage to ANY vehicle be it a galaxy,porsche,mercedes,robin,kitten etc etc etc......... :( :( :rolleyes: :rolleyes: Quote
Ivor_E_Tower Posted January 15, 2005 Report Posted January 15, 2005 ...at the indicated point i have never yet caused any damage to ANY ....kitten ..... :) :) :rolleyes: :rolleyes: Our kitten doesn't have any indicated jacking points - we just put an arm under his tummy and lift. :lol: Quote
ALARM MAN Posted January 15, 2005 Report Posted January 15, 2005 ...at the indicated point i have never yet caused any damage to ANY ....kitten ..... :) :) :rolleyes: :rolleyes: Our kitten doesn't have any indicated jacking points - we just put an arm under his tummy and lift. :lol: You leave that pussy alone ive heard of blokes like you my mum said stay away he is mine :) Quote
Guest Andy Posted January 31, 2005 Report Posted January 31, 2005 WHERE DID MRS SLOCOMBE PUT HER PUSSY OO MATRON.. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: Quote
Guest Muppet Posted April 2, 2005 Report Posted April 2, 2005 Am reasonably new to the forum, bought my sharalaxy mid feb. After reading posts about the sills, went out and checked mine, and yes they've been folded, and not by me :( I thought that it was just the jacking points! Have just rang the garage (non fraud) where I bought from, waiting for a call back so will see what happens :( Paul Quote
Guest Leightoness Posted May 4, 2005 Report Posted May 4, 2005 Hi, I've just found this thread, sorry to possibly go over old ground ! I have just bought an Alhambra, it was a toss up between a Gal and an Alham but I decided on the Seat because the Ford had damaged sills! At the time I thought that the Ford had been damaged by careless driving or something similar - now I'm not so sure!! So just a few questions :- Where does the damage normally happen? (front or back or both?)How does it happen? (badly positioned jack)Does it only happen at a service or can it occure when tyres etc. are changed? On another point in the threadwell i dunno then all i can say is then with 100's of lifts in the exact same position at the indicated point i have never yet caused any damage to ANY vehicle be it a galaxy,porsche,mercedes,robin,kitten etc etc etc.........I have had problems with lifting cars on jacking positions - The jacking points on Morris Minors are well known for going thro' the floor of the car!(This could have somthing to do with old moggies not wanting to be picked up by their tummies! :) ) Quote
seatkid Posted May 4, 2005 Report Posted May 4, 2005 Both front and rear but its more common at the front. Its usually only done by garages and is less likely at tyre centres The problem is when garages use a hydraulic four point lifting platform. These have four swinging adjustable arms with an adjustable pad at the end. The idea is to move the pad to the lifting point and adjust the pad upwards sufficiently so the arms will clear the outer sills. On the Galaxy however the height difference of the inboard jacking points and the sill lip is greater than the adjustment of the pad can accomodate. A careful garage will pack the pad to make up the height, careless ones however just lift the platform without checking the (lack of) clearance. Although Andy may have not caused any damage, I regularly see tyre centres where they jack on inappropriate points, mainly on vunerable suspension parts, most people are blissfully unaware of the damage caused. Anyone using a trolley jack directly on a VAG sill will instantly damage it. They are only designed for the supplied car jack which wraps around the lip. Quote
mikeohope Posted March 10, 2007 Report Posted March 10, 2007 I have a year old galaxy and just before I picked it up the trader put a new tyre on the driverside front. Guss what, the cill is damaged and the straight line between the belly of the cill and the flange is now concave. I have an email in to the dealer as this is obviously a tyre monkey problem and I want it resolved. I don't know how they will fix it by I expect them too as it was pre purchase damage. We'll wait and see. Here is a pic Quote
mumof4 Posted March 10, 2007 Report Posted March 10, 2007 Mmmm....i dont see anything wrong in the pic on the right..there is supposed to be a gap there as that shows you where to use a jack..you will find those gaps at the front of the sills and the backs exactly where those gaps are..have a look in your manual..it will tell you and show you a diagram aswell. Ok..scrap that..i just looked at the pics a bit better..my appologies..i see what you mean now.........im afraid it is a common problem with our gals..i have a crushed sill aswell.. Quote
mikeohope Posted March 10, 2007 Report Posted March 10, 2007 (edited) Seems that way from reading the posts on here, but looks like it is usually due to bad procedure being followed, presumably it can be repaired? Any ideas how much? Mike W Edited March 10, 2007 by mikeohope Quote
italiastar Posted July 3, 2007 Report Posted July 3, 2007 Had my car serviced at the Main dealer I've been using for the last 3 years. Last year they tried to charge me Quote
mattc Posted July 4, 2007 Report Posted July 4, 2007 Wow this site is brilliant, when I was buying our Glalaxy 4 weeks ago I noticed both front cills were damaged and both me and my mechanic friend were scratching our heads for ages trying to work out how this could of been done. and now I now the penny has dropped.Has anyone got any advice on DIY repair jobs?Cheers Matt. Quote
cjb Posted July 31, 2007 Report Posted July 31, 2007 Damaged sill over here also - just on one side though. we spotted it when we took it for a tes drive so presume it has been there for a while. Why cant people be more careful?! Quote
fedupwithjunk Posted August 1, 2007 Report Posted August 1, 2007 Picked the car up from the second annual service yesterday and guess what, when I came to give it the once-over before driving it away, they'd crushed the sills on both sides. After having a minor prang sorted at the insurance recommended Nationwide repair centre guess what... it came back with crushed sills all round, but that was the least of the trouble! It also an electrical fault which meant it only used 3rd gear (its an auto), no dash display (speedo, trip or rev) and no air con + it had mucky hand prints al over the interior. A few seconds in the car and I knew something was wrong but the delivery guy (who drove it 13 miles) told his boss it was fine and we had to get an independant assessor to force the garage to fix it. They sent it to TCH who soon diagnose a fuse blown, that fuse took nearly 2 weeks to fix! To top it all off the coolant level droped off the scale when driving it back and the loan car turned out to have a cracked windscreen when I inspected it the next morning.... arrrgh Back to the original message, is it just the Galaxy or is jacking any car up the correct way too difficult for the average grease monkey? Quote
jkspoff Posted July 26, 2009 Report Posted July 26, 2009 I am struggling to find a post where someone fitted sill protectors as fitted to the lastest model VW Sharan, I got a VW quote for Quote
Mirez Posted July 26, 2009 Report Posted July 26, 2009 I am struggling to find a post where someone fitted sill protectors as fitted to the lastest model VW Sharan, I got a VW quote for Quote
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